Long Walk, Little Talk
by wirenoose
Summary: Saruhiko gets like this sometimes, he doesn't like it. It's not efficient, and only serves to make people worry when it gets bad enough. Saruhiko feels flat, and half the time his body won't listen to him. He's spent an entire day in bed before, Misaki thought he was dying and almost took him to the hospital.


Oh dang, two stress pieces? In one week? I'm a mess.

Anyway, here's some domestic fluff with a dash of angst for good measure.

* * *

The chill has long since set in, cuddling up alongside his bones, sending freezing winter through his veins. He's shivering, he knows that, has been quite aware of the fact for the past few hours.

But the cold is keeping him awake, and that's what he wants.

The sun will rise soon, the shaking will subside as the sky colors golden and red, set ablaze by the only star in their blip of a solar system.

Saruhiko looks back to the bed.

Misaki is still, unmoved from the haphazard position he fell asleep in when he returned home hours ago. He's still in his day clothes, not even under the covers. He'd managed to get his shoes off but that's about it. His beanie is halfway on, having slid down over his eyes but uncovering most of his hair.

Saruhiko isn't even really sure what Misaki had been doing. As far as he knows, HOMRA hasn't had anything in the works. But Misaki had sent him a text last night around eight saying he wouldn't be home until much later. Saruhiko hadn't been bothered by the fact, not really, it gave him time to mope around their shared apartment and turn the A/C on high until his teeth chattered.

But Misaki's back now, so nothing else really matters. He's free of scratches and bandage wraps, which is really all Saruhiko can ask for nowadays.

Part of him begs to get into bed, to curl up behind Misaki, maybe shock him awake with freezing hands and even colder feet. Another part says to run away for a while.

The days have been dragging for Saruhiko, his mind lagging behind at a pace that he finds, quite frankly, disgusting. He doesn't think Misaki has noticed yet, which is nice, comforting even. The little red head can be annoyingly perceptive where Saruhiko is concerned, and it's become a nuisance when he wants to hide things.

He supposes, however, he'd rather that than Misaki be horribly oblivious.

Right now, he just needs to clear out the fog.

Saruhiko scribbles down a note and puts it on the bedside table beside Misaki's headphones and leaves the bedroom, silently closing the door behind him. His boots are in the living room, sitting in front of the couch where he'd left them the night previous. Once those are on, he puts on his coat and walks out the front door.

It's colder than Saruhiko was expecting it to be and he pulls his coat tighter around his body. Misaki used to get on his case about the knives he keeps. They make him colder, the weather chilling the metal, Saruhiko's body heat doing next to nothing to negate such a temperature. He doesn't really care though, better to be cold and armed then minutely warmer and defenseless.

And it's not like he can just walk around with a sword when he's not wearing his uniform.

He walks, no destination, his body on autopilot while his mind soars. There's not a good reason, not really, for him to be foggy. Everything is more or less fine, he has nothing serious to worry about.

Saruhiko gets like this sometimes, he doesn't like it. It's not efficient, and only serves to make people worry when it gets bad enough. Saruhiko feels flat, and half the time his body won't listen to him. He's spent an entire day in bed before, Misaki thought he was dying and almost took him to the hospital. Not only that, but something utterly ridiculous always manages to possess Saruhiko, hijacking his emotions. He's not even sad, that's what's ridiculous. He could be sitting in the living room and he'll start crying without provocation.

It's all utterly ridiculous.

Totsuka and Kusanagi had floated the word 'depression' by him back then, and Munakata had done the same. Ridiculous, the lot of them. Saruhiko has no reason to be depressed, doesn't have the time to be depressed.

Scepter 4 stopped pressing after Saruhiko nearly blew up when he found a therapy consultation card sitting at his desk.

He supposes that it was their form of concern, but it wasn't appreciated in the slightest.

Saruhiko sighs, his body coming to a stop at his front door. The sun is in the sky, it's not as cold, but that may just be the case because he's numb. He spends a total of two minutes unlocking the door, willing his fingers to stop shaking.

It doesn't look like Misaki's up yet, everything is just as he left it.

After taking off his shoes and coat, Saruhiko returns to the bedroom. Sure enough, Misaki's still asleep, though he seems to have wormed his way under the covers at some point. Saruhiko divests himself of most of his knives, laying them out on his nightstand before he moves to get rid of the note he left.

His fingers just make contact with the paper when Misaki's hand locks around his wrist.

Saruhiko pushes down his base instinct to react on the offense, and freezes instead. Misaki is very much awake, eyes bright. He lets go of Saruhiko's hand after a moment and sits up.

"You're freezing," he says plainly.

"I went on a walk."

"Your note said you left at four, it's seven."

"It was a long walk."

Saruhiko keeps himself pliant as Misaki pulls him onto the mattress, taking a small amount of satisfaction as Misaki yelps quietly upon contact with Saruhiko's freezing hands.

"You're gonna get sick, are you stupid?"

"I do believe I'm the smart one in this dynamic duo," Saruhiko mumbles, taking note of how uncomfortable it is to have his glasses biting into his skin.

"Then act like it!"

Saruhiko does startle when Misaki's whole body heats up. He's certain, if he opens his eyes, the room will be bathed in red.

His face warms up considerably as Misaki removes his glasses. There's a click noise as they settle on the nightstand. He hopes to whatever omnipotent being exists that Misaki set them on the nightstand instead of tossing them, and that he hadn't touched the lenses.

He opens his eyes anyway, taking a moment to affirm the fact that he was right. Their room is tinted with the red light emanating from Misaki.

"Better?"

Saruhiko nods, allowing his eyes to close again. The heat is making him drowsy, and Misaki knows it. The glow fades, and the warmth starts to go with it. Instinctively, Saruhiko chases it.

He winds up in Misaki's arms, cuddled close. He doesn't pull back though, if only because that would make it seem like he hadn't moved close intentionally. Misaki, the little idiot, probably knows as much, so he's really just saving his pride at this point.

"You can wake me up next time, you know?"

"Hm?"

Saruhiko is actually ready to sleep at the moment, but Misaki wants to talk, so he tries to pry his eyes open.

"The next time you go on a walk, wake me up if I'm sleeping so I can tag along. Somebody has to make sure you don't wind up frozen and dead in a back alley."

Misaki pulls him closer, and Saruhiko works a moment to read between the lines.

"We don't even have to talk, if that's- you know, if it's easier for you like that, or whatever."

"Or whatever."

"Shut up, I'm trying to be concerned here."

After a few moments of deliberation, Saruhiko gives up on trying to open his eyes, and answers.

"I'll bring you along, but you have to leave your skateboard here, and I don't want to hear complaining if we end up walking far. Deal?"

"Deal."

* * *

I don't know when this takes place on canon timeline, I just wrote it. Probably before Return of Kings? I don't know. In any case, let me know what you think?


End file.
